Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta quotes. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta quotes. Mostrar todas las entradas

2011/04/12

Are we unprofessional?

From Uncle Bob's Clean Code, discussing the pressures that professionals get to deliver unacceptable quality:

What if you were a doctor and had a patient who demanded that you stop all the silly hand-washing in preparation for surgery because it was taking too much time? Clearly the patient is the boss; and yet the doctor should absolutely refuse to comply. Why? Because the doctor knows more than the patient about the risks of disease and infection. It would be unprofessional for the doctor to comply with the patient.

Ouch! What a great metaphor! It really hurts, but it is also a brilliant invitation to get vocal when one needs to get vocal.

2009/10/07

Bonuses

Henry Mintzberg:

Executive compensation has become a polite form of thievery, or, if you prefer, legal corruption. Executives get paid extra when the stock price goes up (bonus) and when it goes down (golden parachute); they get paid extra for staying in their job (retention bonus (...)), and for just doing their job (a bonus for signing a merger (...)).

As for the argument that if you don’t pay the bonuses, you don’t get the right person, I counter that if you do pay the bonuses, you get the wrong person. You get someone who is willing to single him or herself out from everyone else, at the expense of teamwork (...). The CEO, like everyone else in the company, has a job to do and should be paid for doing it. (...)

For the sake of sustainable enterprise: Executive bonuses should be eliminated. Period.

From http://www.mintzberg.org/pdf/execbonus.pdf

2009/10/05

Once things have happened once

Charles Frankel, in High on Foggy Bottom; an Outsider's Inside View of the Government

Once things have happened, no matter how accidentally, they will be regarded as manifestations of an unchangeable Higher Reason. For every argument inside government that some jerry-built bureaucratic arrangement should be changed, there are usually twenty arguments to show that it rest's on God's own Logic, an that tampering with it will bring down the heavens.

Likely to be a valid statement also for individuals

2009/02/08

Brick walls

Brick walls

But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason.
The brick walls are not there to keep us out.
The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.
Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.
They're there to stop the other people.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture - Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (video transcript pdf)

2009/01/28

Could someone please clone that man?

sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants
in the face of doubt, openness prevails
Lots and lots of organizations, both corporations and public administrations, could learn from these quotes. Taken from a memo by Barack Obama for the heads of executive departments and agencies. I bet that my honeymoon phase will be over sooner or later... but, in the meanwhile, would you dear lucky Americans mind cloning several hundred POTUS and sending them all over the place?

Yay for transparency!

2008/12/28

Patience

Memo to self:

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?
Lao-Tzu (Tao Te Ching)

Nope. The mud has not settled. Have to wait.

2008/12/07

Present and in awe

From Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (p100):

Try walking around with a child who's going, "Wow, wow! Look at that dirty dog! Look at that burned-down house! Look at that red sky!" And the child points and you look, and see, and start going "Wow! Look at huge crazy hedge! Look at that teeny little baby! Look at that scary dark cloud!" I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world - present an in awe.
Some times, like when my kids were very young, or when I'm experiencing some special scenery, this view of the world comes naturally. Others, I'm smart enough to remember to put the inner child in control.


I've spent the last few weeks walking in the street as if I were the Little Red Riding Hood on synthetic recreational drugs (smile boing-boing-boing smile), and I realized that it had lots to do with the inner child getting in control without asking for permission. This reminded me about Lamott's quote, and, in turn, to remind myself to keep letting the inner child handle the driving wheel.

2008/05/22

Why are we able to answer emails on sunday...

...but unable to go to the movies on Monday afternoons?

Why can't we take the kids to wok if we can take work home?

Those are very good questions asked by Ricardo Semler in his The Seven-Day Weekend.

2008/05/01

Back in the U.S.S.R.


East Germany may no longer exist, but now we have companies featuring central planning by Troikas, mission statements crafted by apparatchiks, quinquennial planning, no right to choose leaders in companies, no democracy in the workplace, a clear distinction between intelligentsia and peasants (top CEOs make 512 times the median salary and enjoy company 'dachas', jets and limos), and 'state' monitoring (time clocks, dress codes, drug-screening, 'employee assistance' plans, e-mail monitoring, smoking and personal conduct rules, as family-life audits). [1]
This is not a quote from a labor union leader, an anti-globalization essay or a witty comedian. It's from a proponent of democracy and transparency in the workplace that happens to be a business owner putting his money where his unconventional mouth is [2]: Ricardo Semler, in The Seven-Day Weekend [3].

I loved this book, even if its writing style is not that great. Its main point is showing how Semco, Semler's company is run. When Semler and Clovis Bojikian started changing the traditional command and control ways,
"We wanted to demonstrate that the workplace could be a place of satisfaction, not of suffering. Work should be a pleasure, not an obligation. But this wasn’t just some humanitarian thesis. We believed that people working with pleasure could be much more productive.”
To Semler, it's not about values: it's about competitive advantage.

Hurry up and read his book, or take a peek into The Semco Way by reading a 1989 article by Semler in the Harvard Business Review or a 2006 article about him in Strategy+Business. I'm sure that it will give you lots of food for thought.

[1] Soviet/Corpororate parallels quote: It's a funny coincidence that I read this during International Workers' Day
[2] Unconventional mouth quote: by Geoffrey Colvin in a Fortune article
[3] Even if Semler is a best selling author, I never heard about him until I recently read a post by Jon Lister. Thanks so much, Jon!

2008/03/11

Do Take Notes

Manuel Blum:

Finite Automata can add but not multiply.
Turing Machines can compute any computable function.
Turing machines are incredibly more powerful than Finite Automata.
Yet the only difference between a FA and a TM is that the TM, unlike the FA, has paper and pencil.
Think about it.
It tells you something about the power of writing.
Without writing, you are reduced to a finite automaton.
With writing you have the extraordinary power of a Turing machine.
via David Singer's Read This Blog!

2007/08/06

Look up and marvel!

The Cloud Appreciation Society Manifiesto:

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.
cloud
We think that they are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.
cloud
We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.
cloud
We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of a person’s countenance.
cloud
Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.
They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills.
cloud
And so we say to all who’ll listen:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!


via the tips in neave.com:
Turn the computer off and read something new. Sit on a park bench and gawp aimlessly at the clouds or stars above you. Smile like an idiot. Count your blessings. Don't worry about the future. Don't think too much. Don't take life too seriously. Don't pay attention to a word I say.

Besides these good tips, neave.com features some great Flash apps worth checking.

2007/08/05

Menos es más

Avram Hershko, Nobel de Química 2004, en la Contra de La Vanguardia:

No me gustan los grandes laboratorios ni los grandes presupuestos para investigar (...) Como yo no tengo que pagar a mucha gente, puedo dedicar mi tiempo a investigar y no a buscar el dinero para retribuir a mi equipo.
Detesto a los sí señor. Para darme la razón siempre, ya me tengo a mí mismo; lo que aprecio es que me lleven la contraria, pero con fundamento; que me hagan pensar... Ésa es la principal virtud de los buenos júniors, que no dan nada por aceptado y que plantean nuevas preguntas a las viejas certidumbres. (...) Que tengan iniciativa; que no esperen a que yo les dé órdenes, sino que me sorprendan con sus propias y nuevas ideas, y que tengan más ganas que yo todavía de investigar. (...) Necesito preguntas, no que me den la razón.

Siempre me gusta ver que alguien progresa en algo técnico sin verse forzado a abandonarlo por la gestión. El Principio de Peter no siempre se cumple.

Equipos pequeños, diversos, con redes sociales extendidas: buenas recetas no sólo para la investigación, sino para cualquier tipo de innovación.

2007/05/26

La Educación para la Ciudadanía y el filósofo desconcertado

Wonka y algunos de sus lectores se muestran escépticos sobre la conveniencia y/o la utilidad de la futura asignatura escolar de Educación para la Ciudadanía (EpC). Me pongo a buscar información sobre la EpC para intentar aclarar algunos malentendidos [1], y los mejores recursos que encuentro son

Luego me cuelgo con las crónicas de JAM sobre su trabajo durante meses escribiendo un libro de texto sobre la Educación para la Ciudadanía, que él preferiría que se llamase Ética. JAM, con evidente disgusto, dedica una parte significativa de ellas a lidiar con la polémica asociada a la asignatura
por más que intento juzgar con imparcialidad lo que dicen los que se oponen a la asignatura, me parece que están cayendo en un vicio que se extiende peligrosamente en la vida política y social española: juzgar intenciones. Intenciones que, además, no se conocen, sino que se sospechan (link)
¡Y la de palos sorprendentes que recibe la pobre EpC! Un editorial de ABC critica que la EpC haga referencias al diálogo y la negociación (claro, ¿para qué intentar que cada generación entienda mejor la necesidad y los mecanismos del diálogo y la negociación si gritos y mamporros han servido desde siempre?).

Un google de adoctrinamiento + "Educación para la Ciudadanía" da casi 40.000 resultados. Respecto a esta suspuesta relación entre la EpC y la "Formación del Espíritu Nacional", JAM afirma
Tal como entiendo la asignatura no sólo no es un adoctrinamiento, sino que debe preparar a los alumnos, mediante el desarrollo del conocimiento ético, jurídico, político y económico, y el fomento del pensamiento crítico, para que resistan a todo tipo de adoctrinamiento.
Los hay que piensan que la escuela debe limitarse a instruir, y que educar es cosa de los padres. Pero se transmiten valores por acción o por omisión. Se educa siempre inevitablemente: bien o mal, pero se educa.

Y el lío de la religión, que es el que parece que desconcierta más a JAM. Para intentar entender este lío, es útil distinguir entre ética y moral:
Moral es el sistema normativo de una sociedad. Hay tantas morales como culturas: católica, protestante, budista, musulmana, confuciana, etc. Entiendo por ética una moral transcultural, universal, pues bien, la EpC no puede ser una moral, en efecto, sino una ética. Y debe reducirse a aquellas cuestiones éticas recogidas en nuestras normas fundamentales. (...) Estas normas éticas –que protegen la libertad de conciencia y, por lo tanto, a las religiones y a sus morales- imponen también unas limitaciones: no pueden aceptarse aquellas normas morales que atenten contra derechos universales.
JAM está convencido de que no tiene ninguna dificultad impartir la EpC en clave cristiana y le cuesta entender la fuerte oposición de la jerarquía eclesiástica
sería estupendo (...) que las religiones trabajaran –como han hecho a lo largo de la historia- para perfeccionar una ética universal. Una parte importante de esa ética procede de las propuestas de los grandes maestros espirituales. ¿Por qué no intentar que esa influencia cale en un mundo laico? Hans Küng y otros muchos teólogos cristianos están defendiendo esa ética universal. La ética laica no es enemiga de las religiones. Ha sido su gran protectora. No olvidemos que el reconocimiento del derecho a la libertad de conciencia, el derecho de todas las religiones a ser respetadas, no es, ni por esencia ni por historia, un precepto religioso, sino un precepto ético. La religión cristiana rechazó ese principio hasta el Vaticano II, no lo olvidemos.
Reconocer esos puntos comunes, esa moral transcultural y universal, que no es lo mismo que relativsmo cultural, es crítico en una sociedad cada vez más diversa:
¿Tienen siempre los padres derecho a decidir la educación moral de sus hijos? Supongamos que los padres son nazis convencidos y creen que deben educar a sus hijos en la ideología nazi. ¿Debe el Estado respetar esa decisión? ¿Es que los padres tienen una sabiduría instintiva de tal manera que todo lo que ellos decidan sea infalible y respetable? ¿Y si pertenecen a la secta de los adoradores del sol, y deciden suicidarse? ¿Y si admiten la ablación del clítoris? ¿Y si casan a las niñas a los once años, como ocurre en alguna cultura implantadas en España? ¿Y si no se ocupan de su bienestar? (link)
JAM prepara un libro de texto también para padres: lo espero con ilusión.

Notas:
[1] Malentendidos: Josu "Malaprensa" Mezo, reclama que el sistema político y la Constitución formen parte del curriculum escolar, y, aunque no sé si con la profundidad que a Josu gustaría, esto forma parte de los objetivos de la EpC.

[2] Me entusiaman los anuncios de la campaña de SM Aprender lo es todo, en particular el del príncipe y el jardinero.

2007/04/29

Mockingbird Molotov cocktails

I'm not much into poetry, but Rives seems to be monopolizing most of my rainy Sunday morning. Using June Cohen's words, "on the surface, it's light-hearted, but then he layers in unexpected depth and emotion".

Some cool things would happen if Rives controlled the internet, although I wish there were a transcript because he pushes my English skills a bit too far.


Mockingbird, including a TED 2006 remix that is not available in this text version, creates vivid surprising and pretty images on me.

But, my favourite, by far, is Compliment, in text and in beatboxer+poet+harmonica video. Mmmm, wait Xavier, that's dangerous stuff to listen to when you are happily and safely uninterested in that kind of love; so lets use a quote by George Bernand Shaw that I heard in Helen Fisher's TEDtalk The science of love, and the future of women:

Love consists in overestimating the differences between one woman and another

2007/04/24

Healthy urge


Or, in Calvin's words,

If your knees aren't green by the end of the day,
you ought to seriously re-examine your life.

2007/03/21

Book review

Seen on an Amazon book review:

This book is both original and good. The part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.
I loved it.

Update: it looks like this is often attributed to Samuel Johnson, but it seems that it is not found in any of his works.